ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Sustain. Food Syst.
Sec. Land, Livelihoods and Food Security
This article is part of the Research TopicDynamic Land Use and Socioeconomic-Environmental Interaction Patterns: Bridging Sustainability and DevelopmentView all 17 articles
Is digital transformation a blessing or a curse for urban low-carbon development efficiency
Provisionally accepted
- North China University of Water Conservancy and Electric Power, Zhengzhou, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
The rapid urbanization and industrialization processes have led to changes in land use efficiency, but this has also raised various ecological and environmental issues, especially in the context of highly developed digital economy. How to achieve low-carbon development of urban land has become a global concern. The study investigates how the Internet of Things (IoT) enhances the efficiency of low-carbon cities by examining multiple outcomes, including greenhouse gas emissions, emission intensity, and metropolitan sustainability. Utilizing survey data from 271 Chinese cities from 2010 to 2024, the research employs a comprehensive index of the digital economy to develop a multivariate production index that assesses the success of low-carbon cities. Through fixed-effects modeling and analysis of intermediate impacts, the study explores the influence of the internet-based economy on low-carbon city efficiency. The findings reveal that the digital economy has two primary effects: on a national level, it reduces greenhouse gases and their intensity while simultaneously enhancing the operational efficiency of low-carbon cities. However, the real game-changer is the role of green technology innovations. These innovations, fostered by the digital economy, contribute significantly to a decrease in greenhouse gas emissions and their magnitude, thereby improving the productivity of low-carbon communities. The impact of the internet-based economy on low-carbon city efficiency varies by location, being more pronounced in central and eastern cities. In terms of city size, the digital economy has a more significant effect on smaller and medium-sized towns, reducing their carbon dioxide emissions and enhancing their efficiency as low-carbon cities. However, the efficiency of low-carbon towns is less pronounced in resource-dependent cities, suggesting that resource availability influences the effectiveness of the digital economy in promoting sustainablecity development.
Keywords: digital economy, Low-Carbon City Efficiency, Green technology innovation, carbonemissions, Internet of Things (IoT), sustainable development
Received: 21 Oct 2025; Accepted: 18 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Huang, Zhang and Li. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Jingkun Zhang, b202400735@stu.ncwu.edu.cn
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.